Critical Beatdown [PA] [Remaster]

Performer: Ultramagnetic MC's
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: Ultramagnetic MC's: Kool Keith, Ced-Gee, TR Love (vocals); Moe Love (turntables). Producers include: Ultramagnetic MC's. All tracks have been digitally remastered. When discussing albums that helped to redefine rap music in the late 1980s, it would be impossible not to mention CRITICAL BEATDOWN. The debut album from the Ultramagnetic MC's is one of the pinnacle releases of 1988's "new school" movement. Over frenetic, self-produced tracks that sound like the Bomb Squad beaming down from outer space, rappers Kool Keith and Ced-Gee deliver esoteric and often comical lyrics that somehow manage to retain a street attitude. It is this truly original blend that makes CRITICAL BEATDOWN such a timeless listening experience. Standout tracks include "Ease Back" and the bona fide classic "Ego Trippin'," though every song is memorable. Why CRITICAL BEATDOWN never found a mainstream audience is anyone's guess, but its influence on hip-hop cannot be understated.

Melody Maker (10/18/97, p.53) - "...full of scratch-tastic heavy beat, gold plated hip hop which manages to combine the minimalist ground-breaking Sugar Hill sounds with the show-no-mercy aural assault of the then-emerging Public Enemy." NME (Magazine) (10/4/97, p.55) - 9 (out of 10) - "Kool Keith is the Prodigy's favourite rapper, and this relic of his time in the Ultramagnetic MC's...is why....they knew what they were doing, and everyone's been playing catch-up since. A bona fide classic."

The Bronx-based Ultramagnetic MC's were hip-hop's original weirdos. Formed in the mid 1980s, the UMC's best-known member remains to this day the infamous MC Kool Keith. The group's 1988 full-length debut, CRITICAL BEATDOWN, is a hip-hop classic, and while it wasn't a commercial success, the album's frenetic, heavily layered, sample-heavy production style and off-beat lyrical sensibilities have been lauded as key influences by the likes of MF Doom, Public Enemy, De La Soul, and British techno act Prodigy. Kool Keith has also had a remarkable run as a solo artist, using various aliases to create music that ranges from utterly brilliant to flat-out deranged.

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